Excellent Idea: Chronic Illness Social Network

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In 2010, one-third of the country was living with some sort of
chronic disease, according to the Pew Internet & American
Life Project. That same research found that 51 percent of adults
living with a chronic disease went online to find information
about their disease, medical procedures or prescription drug
information.

An online community started by Sean Ahrens, called Healthy Labs,
is geared towards those living with chronic health conditions. A
sufferer of Crohn's disease, Ahrens wanted to make it possible
for patients living with disease to connect with one another for
support, treatment options and experiences with medication.

The project started after Ahrens built a web tool to track his
health during alternative therapy treatment for his chronic
disease. He teamed up with Will Cole, a computer science student
at University of California, Berkeley, to found the social
network "Crohnology."

At the time, the site was geared toward users in San Francisco
with Crohn's disease with the hopes of providing feedback for
doctors as well as patients on different kinds of treatment.
Months after its creation, the site had over 1,000 users and a
database of 9,000 treatment reviews from patients.

This virtual destination also provides a much needed resource for
the newly diagnosed or for those who have to deal with chronic
illness alone.

Healthy Labs is receiving funding from Y Combinator, a startup
incubator that has funded companies like reddit and Dropbox when
they first began. With this funding, Ahrens hopes to expand
Healthy Labs to include other chronic diseases.